First Continental Powered Panther Flies – Built by Barney Barnes

Barney Barnes, Panther Builder SN064 of South Carolina, called last week and informed us he flew his first flight of his Panther! His Panther, N9429B, is powered by a Continental IO-240 turning a Sensenich Propeller.

Barney Barnes, Panther SN064, N9429B with Continetal IO-240

Dan talked with him on the phone after several more flights.

Here is a recap of the conversation –

“I talked with Barney and after close to 2 hrs and several flights on his Panther. Barney reports his Panther gets off the ground and climbs very well. He has explored speeds from low 50s to 170 MPH IAS. Barney is a long time pilot but reports flying the Panther is far different from his last Experimental, a Fieseler Storch replica!! Barney does not have enough time on his Panther yet to give hard performance numbers, but says it’s a hot rod.

I feel the O-240 is an excellent engine for a Panther. They are slightly lighter than a Lycoming 0-235, and real world tests show they produce close to 130 hp at rated 2800 rpm.

Continental IO-240

We will keep in touch with Barney and report back with some real performance specs as testing progresses. Barney has offered to “fly it down to Florida so Dan can test it himself”. SO if that opportunity presents itself I will take him up on the offer and report back…”